Mass Observation Archive - My Offering Sunday 12th May 2013

I was born in Manchester and have a brother 10 years older who still lives in Manchester and a sister 7 years older who moved to Devon about 40 years ago . I trained as radiographer after being educated at an RC convent High School. I am 66 years old and married to the same man for 46 years. He was Leading Ambulanceman for 28 years & now retired like me. We are both fairly healthy, try to keep fit and eat sensibly. I gave up believing in any kind of god 40 years ago. The idea is ridiculous to me. We came here for our honeymoon in 1967 and have lived on the Island of Islay for 43 years. Our 3 children grew up & were educated here, extremely successfully, until they left for university at 18. Our eldest daughter is a GP in England after working for a few years with Medicines Sans Frontieres mostly in Africa. She has a husband and beautiful twin daughters aged 8. Our son lives in Vancouver & designs hydrogen fuel cells when he's not engaged in serious sport. He has a girlfriend and enjoys a great life! Our youngest lives nearest in Glasgow. She & her husband have a lovely son aged 3. She is a University project manager. I retired 6 years ago from my part-time single-handed post as radiographer/ultrasonographer which I had held for 36 years. I had been on call 24/7 for 30 of those years until the WTD was introduced by the EU making it compulsory to allow me regular time off. I was awarded an MBE in 2006 for services to Radiography & to the Community - for my 20 year involvement in fundraising to build and run a community owned swimming pool in our village. I am a committed Labour Party supporter & horrified at how the rightwing UK government is ruthlessly tearing apart Public Services. The NHS in England has been sold off piecemeal to make profits for privateers at the expense of services, which have decreased dramatically. NHS in Scotland has so far been exempt from privatisation because responsibility is devolved to the Scottish Parliament. Who knows what will be the outcome after the Independence Referendum in 2014 ? Sunday 12.05.13 I woke at 0230 then again 0630 ....sure it's yet another sign of age. Tea always my first drink of the day....no milk or sugar. Breakfast was cereal with fat free milk and blueberries, followed by coffee. Weather is damp and chilly as forecast. More like November than May. At least the wind has dropped but garden is sad -looking and plants waiting to go in when it settles. I am involved with a Healthcare Group & frustrated that the local Review is getting complicated. Lots of chatting on the 'phone and exchange of emails today. Swam half a mile in the community owned pool in our village. Lunch was poached eggs and toast followed by an orange and coffee. It continued to rain and was particularly cold. Spent lots of time on Twitter and writing up minutes of last Thursday's healthcare meeting. Went next door to chat with a couple on holiday who have expertise in management of healthcare. Very useful contacts and interesting talk about remote areas in Alaska where the innovative community provide care themselves with block funding from government. Newspapers arrive in the afternoon by ferry. Collected the Observer from the village a mile away. This will provide reading matter for a couple of days. I dislike the adverts for very expensive clothes & accessories. I have complained to editors but it continues. Not sure to whom it is aimed...no-one I know can afford this stuff and it's mostly over the top! I like the political articles. Lots of protest marches about the demise of the NHS and the Bedroom Tax. A woman aged 53 committed suicide this weekend because she couldn't afford the added rent she was asked to pay . It's the poor who are suffering deprivation whilst the rich get richer as they have shares in private companies now providing healthcare and social services which used to be provided by the state. A couple of weeks ago a man with bowel cancer pushed a toy pig, with his nose, from a London hospital to 10 Downing Street, home of the Prime Minister, to highlight the plight of the NHS and the fact that "fat cats" in government are voting for and profiting from it's sell off. There was no media coverage; posing the question of who controls the media? Dinner was roast chicken and vegetables with yogurt to follow. I am trying to lose weight ...again...and find it hard. Not able to run as the weather is so bad. I spend too long sitting at the computer! Lovely to see grandson having his bath from Glasgow, on ipad's FaceTime; keeps us close although geographically far away. Short 'phone chat with daughter about twins & relaying news from her brother who plans to be home in July with several friends, for his 40th birthday. She is always busy! Husband watching football on TV . Our team Manchester City lost the FA Cup Final yesterday. Sadness all round! Bedtime about 11.30pm with milky, decaf coffee & an excellent, funny novel by Lionel Shriver about the effects of serious illness on an American family and the changes in their relationships. This was a fairly typical Sunday ....had the weather been better we might have played golf! "I donate my 12th May diary to the Mass Observation Archive. I consent to it being made publicly available as part of the Archive and assign my copyright in the diary to the Mass Observation Archive Trustees so that it can be reproduced in full or in part on websites, in publications and in broadcasts as approved by the Trustees."